With more than one million page views and more than 4,000 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Saturday, May 03, 2014

One of the “problems,” you might
say, with things like picking a new president is that it calls
attention to one's activities, for better or worse.

A case in point is an editorial this
morning in the San Francisco Chronicle, which used the selection of a
new president for the California stem cell agency as a springboard to
a wider discussion. Its conclusions are not likely to make the agency
happy. The newspaper said the $3 billion research effort has
compiled a “decidedly mixed” record. The headline declared,

“State stem cell agency hasn't lived
up to its hype.”

The editorial, which reflects the
institutional stand of the Chronicle, noted that the agency will run
out of cash for new research in less than three years. It continued,

“As far as the public is concerned,
nagging questions remain: Has the institute been effective enough?
How good should California taxpayers feel about the institute's use
of their $3 billion?

“The answer is a decidedly mixed one.

“Part of the problem is that
California taxpayers had outsize expectations when they passed
Prop. 71(which created the agency).”

The editorial said,

“Progress on stem cell research has
been significant - but it's been the progress of the tortoise rather
than the hare. It was irresponsible for the backers of Prop. 71 to
convince the California public that cures were just around the
corner, and it is unfortunate that so many Californians are
disappointed with the institute because they believed this.

“'People were schooled to believe
that all of these breakthroughs were right around the corner,'
said Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center
for Genetics and Society. "You can't schedule
scientific breakthroughs.'

“'That's not the institute's fault.
Still, it's been a struggle to get the agency to use the best
organizational practices. In 2012, a blue-ribbon committee of
the National Academy of Sciences released a report after a
yearlong review that found conflicts of interest on the CIRM
board that threatened to 'undermine respect for its
decisions.' It also found significant flaws in the agency's
grant-approval process.'

“The institute responded to all of
this criticism by dragging its feet about making necessary changes to
improve operations and create a board with more independence. Last
year, it changed its voting procedures for board members who are
members of institutions, to answer the criticism - but the change
came awfully late.”

The editorial concluded,

“Prop. 71 was an initiative passed
based on the politics of the time. It's difficult to call it a total
failure, especially during a time when U.S. public investment in
scientific research is so low.

But stem cell research has finally
gotten off the ground all over the country, and the institute's
operations over the past decade haven't inspired the confidence
California voters would need to offer the agency more money. The
agency will need to rely on private investment if it's to continue
its mission.”

The Chronicle's editorial today stood
in sharp opposition to its position Sept. 30, 2004, when it
enthusiastically endorsed Proposition 71. Ironically, the 2004 editorial carried some of the hyperbolic adjectives that its editorial today
deplored, including such expressions as “bold,” “brimming with
potential,” “unquestioned promise,” “significant (economic)
windfall” along with the phrase “considerable savings on health care.”

The bottom line – 10 years ago –
for the Chronicle on the California stem cell agency?

“As a society, we have a moral and
ethical obligation to pursue this potentially life-enhancing science
with a sense of mission that is now lacking in the nation's capital.
California has long been a leader in biotechnology and other
burgeoning research industries. Proposition 71 gives the state an
opportunity to fund another crucial area of medical technology. This
state is big enough to support such an adventurous and exciting quest
-- and it should -- since it offers not just promise, but hope.”

The California stem cell agency could and does make much the same argument today for continued financial support.

(Editor's note: The National Academy of Sciences report mentioned in the editorial was prepared by a committee of the Institute of Medicine, which is the health arm of the academy.)
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1 comment:

What would you have expected to happen once the taxpayers funded scientist and PhD's associated with Big Pharma to do???? Build fancy administration buildings, laboratories, and sit around all day and discuss there. How many of these individuals who helped spend approx.. $2.4 Billion of taxpayers funds actually had patients in their care? Look at all the recent articles where scientist falsified data or their findings could not be replicated by others....physicians who actually care for patients have made greater strides in the field of regenerative medicine than CIRM could make in 30 years. CIRM will be another boondoggle where no one is held responsible for the waste of taxpayer funds. Gov't, Scientist, and PhD's should should move aside and allow actual doctors to care for their patients with the clinical advancements that have already been made in the field of regenerative medicine.

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.